OFF THE CUFF : Her Job Has the Ring of Romance

H elen Kilinski says it’s not the money that keeps her in the wedding ring business. She insists it’s the romance.

Fifteen years ago, Kilinski was a part-time student working in the food industry when she was recruited by Zales, the nation’s largest jewelry store chain. Kilinski admits she didn’t have a “remote idea” about rings, bracelets and other shiny things, but the pay was better, so she gave it a try.

In her first week, she helped a couple looking for a wedding set--an engagement ring and wedding band. After showing them several, Kilinski says, the woman “tried on one set and smiled, knowing it was the right one, and when he saw her face, he knew it was the right one, too. It was a wonderful thing to witness. I got hooked right there.”

Now Kilinski is the regional manager of Zales jewelry stores in Orange County and the Inland Empire.

This is another in a series of first-person columns that allow people connected to the fashion industry to talk about their encounters.

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This business is about people. A wedding set is a symbol of commitment, and since a bride is going to wear it every day, it needs to reflect who she is.

Most of the time couples shop here together, and, usually, the guys just want the girls to have what the girls want. But most of the time, the couple doesn’t know what they’re looking for.

They’ll sit at the counter, and the girls will look for a certain style. They will try on different rings, and we try to narrow down the style first; then we talk price.

If the ring is not right, the price doesn’t matter.

Buying jewelry is scary. This could be the first big purchase a young couple makes together. But it’s also a happy time. The couple understands what the ring symbolizes, not that it’s big or small. It doesn’t happen often that a women will push for a bigger ring than a man says he can afford.

Once, a couple came in and she found a ring she loved, but he said it was way too much money even though it was within the price range they had discussed. He was adamant that he wouldn’t buy it. She left the store upset.

He winked at me and came back within an hour. That night, he took her to the same restaurant they went to on their first date and had the waiter drop it into her wine glass.

Every woman has a story to tell about her engagement ring.

Valentine’s Day is the most romantic day to propose. We’ve put a ring box in the middle of a heart-shaped box of chocolates for a man to give to a woman. We’ve also put the box in between the hands of a teddy bear. At the end of December, we had a couple looking at wedding sets, even though he hadn’t yet proposed. When they found one they really liked and the financing was settled, he got down on his bended knee. People walking by the store saw this, and there was quite a crowd--it was a few days before Christmas--and people applauded when she said yes.

My favorite story is of a young couple in their early 20s who shopped together, and she fell in love with a ring. But he was in the military and couldn’t afford it at the time, and he wasn’t quite ready to get married.

Two months later, he’d saved for the down payment and wanted to surprise her for her birthday. He put the box in a large department store box, and he took her to dinner. He handed it to her and she pushed it aside; she probably thought it was a nightgown or something. He asked her to open it, and she was so thrilled.